


Toastiest Texans.

by applepi_kenma5



Category: Senki Zesshou Symphogear
Genre: Crack Treated Seriously
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-08-29
Updated: 2018-09-17
Packaged: 2019-07-04 01:08:01
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 8
Words: 15,527
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15830619
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/applepi_kenma5/pseuds/applepi_kenma5
Summary: I'm so sorry if you stumbled across this.





	1. CHat-per 1

**Author's Note:**

> Temple University fanfiction featuring Riles

The sun basked over the ominous dorm hall apartment complex mystery structure of  _ Crevia Will, Musashi Kosugi.  _ It was approximately six in the morning, and few were beginning to stir from their long hours of slumber. 

Sleepy eyes fluttered open as the rays of sunlights pushed their way past the curtains and onto Dree’s face. Groaning, the girl rolled over, trying to escape the inevitable awakening. But it was already too late for redemption. The sun had completed its task, and as the girl rose from her sleeping quarters, she planned her revenge on the large flaming ball of gas. 

“It’s too early for existence.” Looking up at the various cards of Hibiki that were taped to her wall, Dree’s mind was filled with clarity. “Yes,” she thought aloud, “Hibiki would want me to forgive.” She grazed her fingers over the surface of the card nostalgically, as she remembered the tragedies of episode one. 

A single tear rolled down Dree’s cheek, gravity pulling it down to the floor. 

“I wasn’t able to save you.” 

A sudden knock on her door pulled her out of her thoughts, and she quickly palmed the evidence of crying out of her eyes before answering whoever stood on the other side. 

_ ‘Why is someone else awake at this hour?’  _ Dree wished her door had a peephole installed so that she could mentally prepare herself for how social she would have to become. 

“Dree, it’s really important.” 

At the sound of Riley’s voice on the other side of the door, Dree sighed a small breath of relief before opening the door to greet her friend. 

“Good morning Riley. And Michael. I see you didn’t assault my door this time.” Dree laughed at the warm memory, however when the two friends didn’t retort back with laughs of their own, Dree ceased. “Is something wrong?” 

“We don’t have any time to explain. Just follow us.” Michael said, grabbing Dree’s hand and pulling her out into the hallway. Dree barely had time to lock her room door as she was being dragged all the way to room 220. Riley’s room. 

Upon entering the familiar environment, Dree plopped down on the edge of Riley’s bed. Michael didn’t make himself comfortable though, for whatever reason. 

Dree was about to make fun of him for it, however she was interrupted before she could  express the thought out loud. 

“I accidentally summoned Hibiki.” Riley was the first to speak. 

Michael rubbed at his temples, “Let’s just say it took a lot of command strips to keep her  contained in one place.” 

Dree cocked her head in confusion, “Summon? Like on your game? What do you mean you had to use command strips?” Not only was it too early in the morning for Dree to comprehend anything that was happening, but she was also confused as to why the room was cloaked in a serious atmosphere. 

“No, I mean I literally summoned her.” Riley pulled open his closet, to which Hibiki 

Tachibana fell out of the closet and landed on the ground. 

“Ow...” She groaned, rubbing the side of her head that she fell on. She looked up at the trio with a look of pure confusion, mixed with fear. “Who are you? Where am I?” She glanced around the room, taking note of the Maria plush that sat on the corner of Riley’s bed. 

She hadn’t had a good look around the room due to the fact that she was thrown into the closet immediately after she appeared... wherever she was. 

“I think this is the exact opposite of a problem.” Dree eyed Hibiki up and down, as if she was in doubt that the real person was standing right in front of her. Reaching out a hand, she helped Hibiki back to her feet. “Hi.” 

“Um... Hello...” Hibiki awkwardly gave a little bow before taking another cautious step back towards the wall. “Who... are you people?” She tried the question again, hoping that she would get an answer again. 

Riley and Michael looked at each other, unsure of how to explain their current predicament. 

“You’re in Japan.” 

Riley immediately bopped Dree on the head for her smartass response, deciding that it would have to be him to step up to the plate. 

“I tried making a magic circle with my Symphogear cards and I accidentally summoned you into my room.” He looked at his comrades, who looked back at him with blank stares of disappointment. Except for Dree. Because she would have probably done the same thing. So basically it was only Michael who was disappointed. 

“You know, I trusted you. Of course you would be the one to summon an anime girl from trading cards.” Michael squinted at Riley before directing his attention over to Dree. “And you. I’m just disappointed in you in general. You didn’t do anything in particular.” 

“It wasn’t even the right girl! It would have been better if I summoned Maria.” Riley lunged towards his Maria plush. “She could have worn the vest.” 

Dree opened Riley’s door and pulled out the trademarked orange marshmallow vest that was sitting on the top shelf. 

“Now Hibiki gets to wear the vest.” Dree slowly draped the piece of clothing over Hibiki’s shoulders. “Go on, child. Fulfill the prophecy. It is you who must now protect the world.” 

Michael sighed, “C’mon Dree, don’t confuse her even more.” He gave Hibiki a rare look of sympathy. Or was it pity? 

“Sorry about my friends. They’re a bit...” He paused, trying to find the right words. However, he gave up within the next few seconds. “Anyways, I’m Michael. The weird girl is Dree, and the boy cuddling with his Maria plush is Riley. What’s your name?” 

As the forbidden question rung through Riley and Dree’s ears, the two of them gasped in unison. 

“Who are you? Really Michael? Maybe if you had watched all four seasons of Symphogear when we had  _ told  _ you to, you would know that Hibiki Tachibana is a beautiful character and that you need to get with the program.” Riley hopped up to his feet and chucked the nearest pillow at Michael’s face. “Take that!” 

Michael caught the pillow two centimeters away from the tip of his nose. 

“Little did you know, my reflex stat is maxed out.” Smirking deviously, Michael immediately lobbed the pillow at the Maria plush, knocking the poor collection of cotton out of Riley’s hands. 

The Maria plush tragically dropped to the floor, however Riley’s dive to save the poor piece of merchandise was not fast enough. The plush landed on the ground half a second before Riley did, and as Maria made contact with the hard, cold wood, Riley released a genuine scream of pure pain. 

Rising to his knees, Riley plucked the plush from its idle position on the floor and hugged it close to his chest. 

“Shhh... It’s okay now, Maria. The bad man is gone. He’s gone now, it’s okay.” Riley ran his hand over Maria’s “hair,” as he whispered sweet nothings into the plush’s ear. Tears threatened to spill out of Riley’s eyes as he imagined Maria looking down on him with disdain. “Please forgive me, Maria. I am not worthy of you anymore.”

“Speaking of things that are gone, where did Hibiki go?” Dree blinked out of her zoned out universe to see that Hibiki wasn’t where she had been standing just a few minutes ago. Where had she gone? The three of them looked amongst each other, as if any of them had the answer painted on their face. 

“I think we have encountered a problem.” Riley made his typical “oh dear” expression as he glanced at the door. It was hanging ajar. 

“Hey so um, I’m actually meeting my mom in a few minutes, I’m gonna have to catch you guys later. Have fun dealing with this one, losers! Haha.” Flashing his two friends the lock screen of his phone, he pointed at the “6:30 AM” that was printed in bold, white letters. 

“What kind of person decides to go out with their parents at 6:30 in the morning is my question.” Dree scoffed in fake disgust as Michael waved goodbye. 

“Goodbye, Meat Beater Michael.” Riley waved back before turning around to face Dree. “Okay, this is serious. We have to find Hibiki immediately.” 

“You’re right. The wasps here might have other ingredients that she’s not used to!” 

Riley’s eyes widened in sudden realization. “Oh my god, you’re right. I didn’t even think about that. Quick, how many wasps does Hibiki eat? Do you remember?”

Dree started to count on her fingers. Mental math wasn’t usually her thing, but this time she was at least making an attempt to get the numbers right. 

“Carry the three... Add eighteen... Um...” Dree mumbled to herself, her eyes squeezed shut as she tried to envision the mental math. 

“Ah, we don’t have time for this! You suck at math, let’s just go!” Riley (gently) set Maria back on the bed, grabbed his room key, and speed-walked (for Dree’s sake, considering she wasn’t athletically inclined) out into the lounge area. 

Ulf, Lief, and Isamu were congregated amongst the tables, video game controllers in hand as they all battled to the death on the newest Smash Bros game. Luckily for the group of gamers, it had come out on the Nintendo Switch just the day before. And now they couldn’t stop. 

“Hey guys, have you seen an anime character walking anywhere around here?” Riley was doubtful that they had seen anything, considering their eyes were glued to the screen of the community television, and his hypothesis was confirmed correct when Ulf shrugged. 

“You’re funny. Wanna join us? We have an extra controller.” 

Riley shook his head, declining the invitation politely. 

“No thank you. We’re in a rush.” 

“Oh yeah!” Dree pulled 200 yen out of her pocket and set it on the table next to Lief’s drink. “I forgot to pay you back earlier.” 

“Dree, we literally do not have time for this.” 

“What? It was now or never! Had I not done it now, I would have forgotten entirely.” 

“Dree, what’s more important? Lief’s trust and friendship, or Hibiki?” Riley crossed his arms over his chest, already knowing what Dree’s answer was going to be. 

Luckily, it didn’t seem like Lief had heard the question. Or maybe he heard it and just didn’t really care. Either way, Dree and Riley bolted down the stairs to the first floor and immediately scanned the common area for any signs of Hibiki. 

“Darn it. Well she can’t leave the building without a room key.”   
“Unless she left when someone else was leaving.” 

The two of them stopped and pondered as to the places that Hibiki could have possibly gone. Like Dree, Hibiki’s body didn’t seem to be that athletically inclined. However, considering she had the powers of a Gungnir, her body could very well be in excellent shape. Her stamina and speed stats could potentially be off the charts!  
But then again, did her powers still exist in this alternate universe? If her body was following the natural laws of physics and motion, it would be impossible. But summoning an anime character into real life also seemed like it would be impossible. 

So maybe she had her powers, maybe she didn’t. But the real question was, could she use them? Which episode was she coming from? 

As Riley and Dree sped towards the Seven Eleven, they both desperately hoped that it was an earlier episode. The earlier the episode, the crappier her stats would be. 

“Is this the forbidden game of tag?” Despite their current situation, Dree decided it would be for the best if she continued her typical jokes. 

Riley burst into laughter, slowing down just a bit so that he could breathe easier. 

“Yes. Forbidden game of tag.” 

As the two of them reached the Seven Eleven, they were greeted by Dan holding three bags filled to the brim with various foods and beverages. 

“Hey guys, what’s up? I was chosen to go get everyone snacks.” By “everyone,” Dree assumed he was talking about Ulf’s group. “Man, you should have been here earlier. I saw this amazing looking cosplayer. She was epic. Anyways, I’ll see you guys later. I gotta hurry back with these.” Gesturing to the heavy looking bags of plastic he was carrying, he started to head back towards the dorm. 

“Did you hear that, Dree?” 

“What? That Dan is the designated snack getter and that we should utilize his services in the future?”

“No,” Riley bopped Dree for the second time that day before he continued, “Cosplayer. He probably saw Hibiki and thought that she was a cosplayer.” Scratching the back of his head, he glanced down the road in search of a light blonde head of hair. “I wish he told us which way she was going...” 

“Hey, is that her?” Down by the mysterious building that beared the infamous rainbow sign, a girl clad in a gray school uniform was quickly shuffling down the street. A full head of blonde hair adorned her face, though it stopped just above her chin. 

Riley squinted his eyes to take a closer look. 

“That has to be her. Let’s go!” 

The two of them took off in the direction of the ominous rainbow sign, unsure of what secrets were inside that building and never wanting to find out. The girl was turned around, looking at something tall in the distance. 

Whatever it was, it kept her distracted long enough for Riley to instinctively tackle her to the ground. The girl yelped loudly as she was taken down and immediately began struggling as soon as she could move again. 

“We got you!” Pulling a single command strip out of his pocket, he placed it on the back of the girl’s collar. “Look at us Hibiki, we don’t want to hurt you.” 

“Help! Someone help me!” The girl’s voice wasn’t Hibiki-like at all. 

_ Oh no.  _

Riley immediately jumped off of the girl, whos blonde wig fell to the floor as she stumbled back to her feet. Brushing away a few strands of black hair that had fallen into her face, the girl looked at... something behind Riley? And smiled in relief? 

Dree spun around to see what she was looking at. Her stomach dropped as she saw a police officer walking towards them. 

“Hello. I heard a scream and I came over to check that everything was okay.” He glared at Dree and Riley skeptically. Foreigners. 

“Everything is not okay! That man tackled me to the ground! And the girl was working with him!” Snatching her wig off of the ground, she shoved it haphazardly into the large purse hanging on her shoulder. 

The police officer nodded in understanding, and began profusely apologizing to the woman. “Yes, yes. We’ll do everything we can to sort things out properly. I deeply apologize for the crimes that these  _ Americans  _ have committed.” After briefly receiving information from the woman (ie; name, address, insurance, etc), the officer turned back around to Riley and Dree. 

“You are living in Japan, yes?” The officer pulled a mini clipboard and pen out of his pocket and clicked the pen into writing mode. 

Dree and Riley both nodded politely. 

“Yes, we’re attending college here. At Temple University.” Riley spoke up, as Dree attempted to hide behind him. It was a natural defense mechanism for short people, and a natural instinct as well. 

“Okay,” The police officer scribbled something on his clipboard before looking back up at the pair. “Can I see your residence cards?” 


	2. CHATPER 2

Dree and Riley froze, recalling the events that had occured within the last thirty minutes. Hibiki had escaped, and without much thought, they had immediately chased after her. 

The only thing that Riley had grabbed on the way out was his room key. And Dree had been pulled out of her room prior to that, and she hadn’t had the time to grab anything before she was “friendnapped.” 

The two friends looked at each other. It was at this moment that they knew. They fucked up. 

The police officer tapped his foot impatiently. 

“You two do have your residence cards,  _ right _ ?” The police officer emphasized the word “right” greatly, and Riley knew the consequences of answering “no.”

“Y-Yes. We definitely have our residence cards.” Riley took a small step back, bumping into Dree. “DREE! RUN!” Spinning around on his heels, Riley bolted in the opposite direction of the officer. 

Dree immediately followed suit, a sudden rush of adrenaline pushing her legs past their  regular limits. 

“Hey! Get back here!” The cop began running after them as fast as he could. “If you don’t stop, I’m going to call for more officers to chase you!” He threatened, but that didn’t stop either of them in their tracks. 

“R-Riley, we have to meet up with Michael! He said he was going to Tokyo Tower 

yesterday!” Dree was almost out of breath, but she continued to run out of pure fear alone. The locals on the side of the road were stopped as they watched the pursuit, but Dree didn’t care enough to let them affect her. 

“Okay! Where’s Musashi Kosugi station? Do... Do you remember how to get there?” Riley weaved through people like a pro as he looked over at Dree. 

“No! But it’s definitely not this way! Wait, yes it is! C’mon!” Grabbing Riley’s wrist, she pulled him down a side street to the right. “We have to lose the cop before we get to the station!”

“I don’t think that’s gonna happen! Look, it’s right up ahead!” The two of them ran into the station at full speed. “Which line takes us to Tokyo Tower?” Skidding to a sudden stop, Riley quickly looked at each of the many paths they could currently take. 

“Doesn’t matter! We have to go, let’s... Let’s just head towards the school!” A ways back, Dree and Riley could already hear the cop shouting profanities in them in Japanese. The two of them ran towards the entrance that would lead them to the Meguro line. 

Riley scanned his Pasmo card on the machine and ran through the small gates, but Dree had stopped in front of them. 

“Riley! I don’t have my card!” 

The footsteps of the officer were getting a lot closer. Dree quickly shifted from foot to foot as her anxiety took a sudden spike. “Riley! Let me use your card!” 

Riley quickly tossed her the Pasmo card, which, thankfully, she caught in mid air (for once in her life). She scanned the gray card on the scanner, and ran through the gates just as the police officer had caught up to her. 

Dree looked behind her in apprehension. 

The police officer lowered his suica card onto the scanner, only for the light to turn red. 

“NANI?!” He scanned it again and again, only for his entrance to be denied. 

“Oh my god. We’re blessed.” Dree made a mental note to always recharge her pasmo card as her and Riley quickly hurried away. “But that won’t keep him away for long.” 

Riley nodded in agreement. 

“We need to get on the next express train so we can get the hell out of here. I’m sure he’s already recharging his card. Or calling for backup. Maybe both.” He looked down at Dree, who shook her head. 

“He couldn’t have called for backup just yet.  The Japanese Immigration would swarm us immediately.” Dree looked at their surroundings as they stopped in the designated waiting area in front of the train tracks. “Any of these people could just be the Japanese Immigration in disguise.” Fear was painted on her face as she scanned the crowd of people who were waiting to get on the train. 

At last, the nice, happy, full-of-hope train melody rang out across the platform, and the express train came whooshing in from wherever it came from. Where did it come from? Where will it go? We will never know.  

Almost as quickly as the train doors had opened, Riley and Dree hopped onto the train, not even giving the people  _ getting off  _ a chance to exit before they made their entrance. 

“I think everything will be okay.” said Riley, a look of obvious fake enthusiasm plastered into his smile. 

“We have best girl running wild in the streets of who knows where, the Japanese police force and the Japanese immigration are slowly tracking down our location as we speak, and we don’t have our residence cards.”

“Okay, I would like to point out that you are incorrect. Hibiki is not best girl.” Riley and Dree grabbed onto the circle handles as the train started moving again. Unfortunately for their tired feet, there weren’t any available seats left for them to sit down. 

Dree used this time to recharge her stamina and catch her breath. 

Riley was a bit more used to going out and having a life outside of his dorm room, so he was perfectly fine, bar the current situation they were caught up in. 

“Maybe we should go back and get our residence cards.” Dree looked out the window, her eyebrows furrowed in slight worry. “Are we doing the right thing?” 

Riley let a small sigh escape his lips. 

“Our morals are a bit skewed right now, Dree. We’re doing what we have to in order to survive. And we have the whole Hibiki situation. We don’t know what will happen if we don’t return her to her original universe.” 

“Are you saying there will be consequences if we don’t?” 

As if the gods of the universe had heard Dree’s exact words, the ground below their feet began to shake violently. Immediately losing her grip on the circle handle above her head, Dree was the first one to go crashing to the floor. Riley stumbled back onto a small child who was sitting in the seat. Well, neither of them were anymore. 

Dree tried to rise back to her feet, but the train was zooming too fast for her to even make a solid attempt. 

Panicked screams filled the train as the car flipped over to the side, falling off of the metal tracks that it was supposed to be attached to. The entire automobile system crashed to the ground, skidding across the concrete and finally stopping when it was firmly lodged in the nearest skyscraper. 

“R-Riley, we have to get out of this train...” Dree was able to somewhat regain her balance, despite the tremors that were shaking underneath her. Looking around, the door above them had been busted out by the impact. “We can escape through there!” 

Riley pulled himself up using one of the racks that was supposed to be used for holding luggage. 

The tremors died down enough for Riley to jump and pull himself through the exit above him. 

“Give me your hand, Dree. You’re not tall enough to make that jump. Trust me.” Dree already knew that from the start, but she didn’t say anything and did what she was told. Grabbing onto Riley’s hand, he pulled her up and out of the train. Well, they were standing  _ on  _ the train now, technically. 

The two of them slid off of the Forbidden Worm and immediately bolted from the scene. Where there were accidents, there were police officers. And they needed nothing to do with the police right now! 

Luckily, the tremors had barely stopped. But neither of them knew when they would pick back up again.  _ If  _ they were going to pick back up again. 

“Where are we?” Dree asked, looking around for any familiar landmarks. She didn’t find any that she could remember. 

“I don’t know, but I think that tremor was Hibiki’s doing. I have a gut feeling.” Riley looked up at the buildings as well. Minus the one that the train had crashed into, the rest of the buildings seemed to be intact. They were designed to take earthquakes head on, afterall. 

“I have a crazy idea.” The words were sudden and unexpected, but Riley followed Dree’s line of eyesight to see a building with a large speaker on the top. The acronym  _ NHK  _ was bolted onto the building in thick white letters. “I know how we can find Hibiki.” 

“You aren’t thinking what I think you’re thinking, are you?” 

“I most definitely am thinking of what you think I’m thinking of, I think. Wait... I’m confused...” Dree paused to process the sentence, but Riley didn’t let her. 

“Anyways! Not important! What’s the plan?” 

“Forbidden Bop.” 


	3. CHATPER 3

Due to the earthquake, the NHK building had been conveniently evacuated. That was why, when Dree and Riley bursted through the doors, nobody was there to stop them. 

Dree ran over to the elevator and spammed the up arrow button. The light on the button didn’t turn on, to which she glared disgustedly at the staircase. 

“C’mon Dree, desperate times call for desperate measures.” Riley didn’t want to climb up the endless mountain of stairs any more than Dree did, but they had no other choice. 

The total embark up twenty flights of stairs was definitely a challenge, and by the time they were at the top, Dree wanted to collapse onto the ground and die. Her thighs had already been screaming from the vigorous chase from the police officer, and the stairs definitely made it worse. 

“I think the control room should be at the end of this hallway. It seems to be the only door on this entire floor.” Riley pointed down the hallway, where one ominous white door stood. Only one. 

“Then let’s go there.” The two of them made it to the room, Dree moving a bit slower than Riley but eventually catching up as they reached the door altogether. 

Pushing the door open, Dree flicked on the lightswitch. 

Due to the ominate one second electricity lag, it took a moment for all of the lights to flicker on. Once they were on though, an entire sea of computers were drawn out of the darkness. 

In the back of the room, one computer stood taller and thicker than the rest.   
“That’s the one. That’s the one that connects to the speaker.” Dree walked over to the computer in the back. “Bring me the forbidden cube.” 

Riley stepped forward and handed her his mp3 player. 

“Correct.” Scanning the various wires that were splayed out across the tabletop, Dree finally found the one that would both connect to Riley’s mp3  _ and  _ the computer. 

“I will do the honors.” Stepping forward, Riley took back the mp3 and did his magic. To Dree’s astonishment, he turned it on and began playing the forbidden bop. (AKA Swan Song). 

The lyrics were so powerful, they brought tears to both the eyes of Dree and Riley. Together, in unison, they both began to chant the lyrics of the song, their emotions broken by the first episode shenanigans. 

It was only the loud crash of something flying through the window that could get them to stop singing the forbidden bop. 

“I know this song.” The girl spoke. 

“It worked!” Dree high fived Riley in victory. “Please don’t run from us this time, Hibiki. I just want to love you.” 

Hibiki looked back at the window as she considered jumping back out. Had this been a plot to trick her into following the voice of her dead senpai? 

“Dree, she already has a girlfriend. Don’t tear Miku away from her.” Riley walked over to Hibiki, grabbing her wrists so she wouldn’t be able to escape. “We just want you to go back to your own world. The stars are unbalanced. The world is shaking. This was not the prophecy.” 

Hibiki seemed unsure of his words at first. How could she trust what this guy said? While yes, it was his fault that she was here in the first place, did it really mean that she knew how to get back? 

“I guess I have no choice but to trust you.” Hibiki pulled her hands away from Riley’s, however she didn’t turn and run away. Even though she had the choice, it simply wouldn’t make sense for her to wander aimlessly. “So, do you know how to get back?” Her voice didn’t show it, but Dree almost felt bad for the small sparkle of excitement that sparkled in her honey tinted orbs. 

“Um... No. We still have to figure that one out.” Dree’s legs finally decided to give out on her entirely, so she sat down in the nearest chair. “We can’t go back to Riley’s dorm and make another summoning circle.” She racked her brain for any possible ideas that would be able to send Hibiki back, but she wasn’t really sure on how she had gotten here in the first place. 

Riley and Hibiki decided to take a seat as well so that they could focus more on brainstorming. 

“Maybe there’s a song I have to sing. It might activate a portal.” Hibiki pulled a small notebook out of her pocket and scribbled something on one of the blank pages. 

“Wait a second. You’re trying to tell me that your metal suit of armor has pockets?” Dree reached out to touch the mystical pocket. 

Hibiki ignored her entirely and continued writing whatever she was scribing on her paper. A few seconds later, the notepad was returned, and she looked up like nothing had happened. 

“A song, huh? I have  _ all  _ the Symphogear songs downloaded onto my mp3 player. As well as all of the extra content. And all of the episodes, except they’re condensed into mp3 files. I just have to imagine the visuals.” Riley unplugged his mp3 from the computer in the back and slid the small device back into his pocket. 

“I still don’t know what any of that... means. What do you mean you have the Symphogear songs downloaded? Only the ones with fragments can sing the songs and defeat the Noise.” Hibiki scratched the top of her head, glancing at both Riley and Dree in utter confusion. 

“Don’t worry about it. You weren’t created to be a self aware character.” said Riley. 

Hibiki was still completely and entirely confused, but she came to the conclusion that she wasn’t going to get any further answers. 

Dree opened her mouth to speak, however before she could say anything, a swarm of officers kicked open the door, all of them fanning throughout the room. They evenly dispersed themselves as they kept their guns fixated on the sitting trio. 

Hibiki was the first to hop up, her natural response to danger kicking in almost instantaneously. 

“We have to get out of here, now!” shouted Riley as he hoisted Dree over his shoulder and stopped at the ledge of the open window. He shuddered as he looked down at the twenty feet drop, and then glanced back at the officers holding them at gunpoint.   
Wait a second... Those weren’t officers. Rather than the bright blue uniforms that the Japanese police officers were _supposed_ to wear, these bois were clad in pure white shirts and a pair of white pants. Their matching crocs were allegedly color coded as well. 

“It’s the Immigration Bureau. We have to escape.” Forcing his legs to move, Riley jumped out of the window as the officers opened fire. 

As Riley and Dree fell down the treacherous height, their entire life at Temple began flashing before their eyes. The whole six and a half days that they had spend there was filled with nothing but laughter, fun, pleasant memories, and orientation. 

Shutting her eyes, Dree let gravity do its job as she came to peace with how things were. Yes, this was for the best. This was better than dying at the hands of Japanese Immigration. Anything was better than dying at the hands of Japanese Immigration. 

“Hey, Dree?” Riley smiled over at Dree, hoping that she was feeling the same inner peace as he was. 

“Yeah?” 

“Does Michael is gay?” 

The two of them chuckled softly, however Dree’s laughter morphed into tears. She smiled, though her eyes bled the water of sadness. 

“Y-Yeah. Michael definitely has the big gay.” 

The ground was getting closer and closer. This was it. This was the time for them to perish forever. 

...

Or not. 

At the very last second, Hibiki had managed to catch up to them and push them to the side. This slowed down their falling speed immensely, and by the time Riley and Dree came to a rolling stop, the worst injuries they had sustained were a few cuts and bruises. 

“Hibiki... You saved us.” Dree crawled over to the girl and embraced her in a hug. “Thank you.” 

Hibiki didn’t say anything, for she was too busy catching her breath. Maintaining that overpowered jump stat took a lot of work. 

“Thank you Hibiki.” Riley gave her one singular, firm pat on the back to assert his thanks on her. 

In the distance, the sound of firetrucks wailed loudly. 

Dree looked up to see large swirls of black smoke clouding over the brightly lit fire that burned quite a ways away. 

“It’s amazing how we can see that huge fire all the way from here. I wonder what caught on fire.” Though she was only iterating her thoughts out loud, she wasn’t expecting to receive any sort of answer. 

“Crevia Will. Musashi Kosugi. Your home. Your  _ residence. _ ” An ominously familiar voice called out from the distance. 

Dree, Riley, and Hibiki all turned around to meet the eyes of the suica card-holding police officer. 

“Long time no see.” Behind him was a literal army of immigration soldiers. Each one of them was holding a gun about half the height of Dree’s body. And all of them were pointed in their direction. 

“We have a few options here.” said Hibiki, her battle mode activated. “We can fight our way out, or we can let them kill us.” 

“Don’t worry, they can’t kill me more than I’m already dead on the inside.” Dree snickered, but she received the third and final bop of the day, courtesy of Riley himself. 

The trio slowly rose to their feet. The options had been spoken. Now it was up to them to decide the future of their lives. 


	4. CHATPER 4

“Wait, we don’t have to fight!” Dree spun around on her heels and began charging in the opposite direction. “We can run! There’s no way we can take on all of those immigration officers by ourselves!” 

Riley and Hibiki knew that Dree was right (for once), and so they too fled from the scene. The Japanese immigration immediately opened fire, however the Suica Officer raised up his hand for a ceasefire. 

“Red crocs move directly to point A! Yellow crocs take the turn-around and meet them at the rendezvous! Blue crocs, stay with me. We won’t let them escape. Green crocs, go with plan C and collect the wasps.” 

All of the immigration officers were discharged to their specific locations, and not a single officer was wasting their time getting to where they needed to be. And this meant that the amount of time that the trio of new criminals had very little time to escape. 

“I hear their footsteps! I can’t tell where they’re coming from!” Dree was getting exhausted from running, and it was pretty obvious to Riley that if they kept running at their current pace for much longer, Dree wasn’t going to make it. 

“Quickly, in here!” Riley pulled both of the girls left into a dark alleyway. Not even the streetlights were able to illuminate the pure edginess that the sidestreet was cloaked in. Before Dree or Hibiki could ask any questions, Riley flipped open the lid to the nearest dumpster and threw both of them inside before climbing in himself. 

He shut the lid from the inside and pulled out his phone flashlight. 

The inside of the dumpster was completely spotless, since trash didn’t exist in Japan. The inside walls were painted with picturesque visuals, their vibrant strokes of bright paint seeming to tell a story along the interior. 

“What does it mean?” Riley shined his light closer. 

Stick figures clad in white clothes and various colored shoes were all circled around a small rectangle. They seemed to be worshipping it, or perhaps they were enchanting some sort of ancient ritual. As the picture continued, the images became more violent and grotesque.   
The whitely dressed stick figures increased in number, the small rectangle now sitting on a regal looking throne. Worship. The stick figures bowed down to the rectangle, before they set out to seek revenge on whatever had angered their souls. 

The later visuals showed the stick figures beating innocent people with large sticks, while others seemed to be shooting them with guns. 

“This...” Hibiki touched the drawings softly, almost as if she was afraid the paint would peel off if she wasn’t careful. “I don’t understand what it means.” 

“It’s the sacred cave paintings. I know what they are trying to say.” Riley ran a hand through his dark locks, pushing back some of the hair that was obscuring his vision. “This is the story of Japanese Immigration. They worship the residence cards, and eliminate anyone who doesn’t obey their tyranny.” 

Dree stared at the paintings in awe. “These hieroglyphics must have been created so long ago...” Her eyes were filled with wonder and sympathy for the victims portrayed in the drawing. “Hey, Riley? What’s this one?” 

Riley pointed his phone flashlight in the direction that Dree was pointing. There was one last drawing that he had forgotten to look at. It was smaller than the rest, and put into the very back corner. 

The picture depicted a creature like neither of them had ever seen before. Crusted blood was smeared over the drawing, sending a shiver down Dree’s spine. What did it mean? 

“I don’t know how this one connects with the rest. Maybe it’s just regular graffiti.” Riley hoped his hypothesis was correct, considering that he didn’t want to haunt his own nightmares with poorly drawn dumpster pictures. 

The three of them fell into an awkward silence for the next several moments, each of them absorbed in their own thoughts. 

Hibiki’s thoughts were mostly centered on Miku. How would she ever get back home? There were so many regrets that she wasn’t ready to accept. There were so many times when Miku had just wanted to be by her side, and yet... and yet Hibiki had been unable to do something as simple as  _ that.  _

She yearned for Miku’s warmth, for Miku’s hands to hold her body close. She wanted Miku to wake her from this terrible nightmare she was now living as her life. Without much context, she was thrown from place to place, and when she had tried to find the solution on her own, she realized that it was impossible. 

Now, she was being chased by some type of police force for who knows what, and she  had a creeping suspicion that she was going to have to be the one to fight them. It was impossible on her own, but what choice did she have? She needed to keep Riley alive if she wanted to have any chance of making it back home. 

“We’re going to be okay, right?” Dree was the first to speak. Considering that she was the “nervous wreck” trope in her trio of friends, the question was hardly surprising. Hibiki looked over at Riley. She couldn’t help but wonder the same thing. 

_ ‘I am going to get back to Miku, right?’  _ She didn’t ask the question aloud, but Hibiki wondered it from within the deep chambers of her mind. 

Riley looked down at his black sneakers. 

“I don’t know, Dree. We’ll have to find a way to go into hiding, and...” He trailed off, the process proving itself to be way too long to explain. It also wasn’t what they needed to be worrying about right now. Right now, they had to focus on the threat that was lurking outside the dumpster doors. 


	5. CHATPER 5

“Tell us where they are.” 

Michael awoke to a bright light being shined in his eyes. It wasn’t the most comfortable way of being woken up, but more importantly, when did he fall asleep? The last thing he remembered was stepping into Tokyo Tower, and then... 

He didn’t remember anything past that. Michael squinted at the bright light being shined on him, and instinctively he tried to move his arm to cover his face. Wait. He couldn’t move his arms. 

Looking down, he saw that his arms were tightly tied down to the chair he was sitting in. The thick rope was scratching into his wrists, and he quickly noticed that his ankles were also bound as well. 

“You heard my question. Tell me where they are.” An ominous voice boomed from above, the exact location of its holder unknown. 

“Who are you talking about?” Michael looked around the room for any signs of human life, but could see nothing beyond the darkness that lied ahead. The only thing that was illuminated in the entire room was him. The rest was a mystery. 

“You know exactly who I’m talking about. Commence phase one.” The ominous voice snapped his fingers, and immediately a wasp landed on Michael’s shoulder. “Our highly trained police wasps will obey our every command.” 

Michael didn’t flinch at the wasp when it landed on him. He couldn’t let the insect smell his fear. 

“You’re dumb. Hahaha.” Michael laughed mockingly at the voice, and by doing so he erased the last shrivels of apprehension that were left in his mind. 

Finally, the owner of the voice stepped forward into the light, his eyes laced with poison as he glared down at Michael. 

“You aren’t in a position to disobey me.” Snapping his fingers again, three more wasps landed on Michael’s head. “The longer you wait to tell me, the more wasps I will summon.” 

“Bet.” Was Michael’s only response. 

The man pulled a gun out of his belt holster.

“Don’t think I won’t shoot you! There are plenty of other people I can ask!” The man knew he was lying. Considering the  _ Crevia Will Musashi Kosugi  _ Dorm was now nothing more than a large pile of ashes, he really didn’t have any other choice but to force the answer out of the last sole survivor. 

“Can you feel your heart burning? Can you feel the struggle within? The fear within me is beyond anything your soul can make. You cannot kill me in a way that matters.” Michael stared deep into the man’s eyes as he cocked his gun. 

Tears began streaming down the man’s face. 

“I’M NOT FUCKING SCARED OF YOU!” 

His finger curled around the trigger before releasing the shot. A ball of wasps shot directly at Michael’s face. Angered by the sudden launch, the wasps stung Michael’s face multiple times. 

The man gained his composure as he watched Michael pull against the ropes, the wasp stings making his face swell. 

“I’ll make you a deal, Michael Berry. You tell me where Riley and Dree are, and I’ll give you this.” Reaching into his pocket, he pulled something out and tossed it in front of Michael’s chair. 

Michael looked down at the foreign object, the wasps still prevalent in number on his body. “My residence card.” 

“Yes. It was taken from your room quite a while before the fire broke out. If you tell me where your friends are, I’ll let you go. You’ll get your residence card back, and you’ll be a free man.” 

“You fool.” Michael smiled in amusement, “You think I would fall for that trick? You can’t have a residence card without a  _ residence. _ ” 

The man said nothing. 

A few moments of eerie silence passed between the two. Michael knew he was right. He  knew he had outsmarted this man entirely. He had crawled under his skin and ripped out the foundation of his entire plan. 

“Bring the serum.” 

Michael didn’t know who the man was talking to, but before he could ask, a hand  reached out from behind him and covered his mouth. Michael struggled against the grip, however due to his bound state it was impossible to escape. 

The new figure plunged a syringe into the side of Michael’s neck, injecting some sort of green liquid into his body. 

“That’ll do the trick.” 

The two men smiled at each other, satisfied that Michael had been thoroughly dealt with without much incident. 

A wave of drowsiness was pulling Michael’s eyelids shut, despite how much effort he was putting into keeping them open. It had to be the strange liquid. There was no other explanation. 

The last thing he saw before his vision went black was a single wasp. 


	6. CHATPER 6

“Okay. Let’s go over the plan one more time so that you don’t forget it.” Riley grabbed Dree’s shoulders so that he knew for sure she was paying close attention. “I go first. Hibiki goes second. You go last. Our rendezvous point is the Lawson’s two blocks away from here. We’ll seek shelter inside.” 

Dree nodded, “And hopefully we’ll get a chance to buy some food there. I’m actually getting a bit hungry and I think some ice cream would really hit the spot.” 

“One more word and I’ll bop you into the netherworld.” said Riley as he nodded over at Hibiki to confirm that she had an equal understanding of the plan. “See you guys at the Lawson’s.” He creaked open the dumpster lid before stepping out into the afternoon light.

Hibiki watched through the opening as Riley walked out of the alleyway, and then shut the dumpster lid shut once again. Now that Riley’s phone flashlight wasn’t shining anymore, Hibiki and Dree sat in pitch black darkness. 

“I’m going to head out in about five minutes.” Hibiki looked over to where Dree was, even though she couldn’t see the other girl clearly. “You should space your exit to be about the same.” 

“Okay.” Dree paused for a moment before she continued. “You aren’t going to fight all of those officers by yourself, are you?” She was aware that Hibiki was a good fighter, but taking on an entire army? That seemed a bit out of reach. 

“We don’t really have any other choice. If I want to get back home to Miku, it’s what I have to do. Don’t worry about me, okay? I’ll be fine.” Hibiki gave her a reassuring pat on the back, but part of her was concerned that it still wasn’t enough. “Look. If I can fight the Noise, I can fight the officers. People are easier to defeat than monsters.” 

Hibiki did bring up a valid point, but then again, monsters weren’t intelligent enough to craft battle plans or create complex strategies. 

Would she really be okay? 

“Alright, I’m off.” Hibiki rose to her knees, her hands pushing up the dumpster lid slightly so that she could peer out for any signs of danger. “I don’t see anything. Okay.” Turning to Dree, she gave her a thumbs up, however as she was pushing up the dumpster lid, the ground began to convulse, sending Hibiki back to the dumpster floor. 

The dumpster lid slammed back shut. 

“This one’s worse than the first one!” Dree shouted. Once again, it seemed as though the gods above had heard her words. 

_ “Bet.”  _ They said, and just like that, a heavy rainstorm began brewing overhead. 

Water began dripping into the dumpster, making Hibiki squeal in disgust. 

“Oh no! I don’t want to get all wet!” 

“You literally fight aliens in your spare time!” Dree didn’t mind getting wet from the rainwater, however this would make it a lot harder to run from Immigration whenever they caught up with them. 

Over the deafening sound of the raindrops hitting the metal doors of the dumpster, it also seemed like there were small rocks and debris falling onto the lid as well. 

“We should stay in here until the earthquake subsides!” Dree had her hands pressed firmly over her ears to try and block out the excessive noise. Now that her eyes were adjusted to the darkness, she saw that Hibiki was doing the exact same thing.

“Okay!” 

The tremors only seemed to get worse as time went on. The constant shaking almost made Hibiki want to hurl. (Luckily, she didn’t). 

“The building’s gonna collapse!” 

“Run!” 

Several voices outside were screaming in terror as the top of a tall building caved inward, sending the entire structure falling to the ground. Due to the uneven shaking, however, many of the large pieces of debris scattered among the street. 

“Hibiki, I think we should--” Dree couldn’t even finish her sentence before something smashed into the top of the dumpster, deforming the metal lid. The two girls flinched at the earsplitting  _ bang _ , and looked up to see that their roof was heavily dented inwards. 

Rays of light from the outside peeked in from the damaged lid, initially filling Dree and Hibiki with relief, however it wasn’t long lasted. 

The rainwater continued to pour in larger quantities, the amount of water now reaching their ankles. The ground continued to rumble, though by now Hibiki’s body had gotten used to it. 

Dree peeked out through the large gap to see people running through the streets. She guessed they were trying to evacuate the area. 

“Let’s see if we can try and lift this rubble.” On the count of three, Hibiki and Dree both tried to push up against the ceiling, but with no luck. It wouldn’t budge. 

“It’s no use.” Hibiki sighed, letting herself slip back into the rain water. “Maybe we should call for help.” 

“We can’t do that! The Japanese Immigration will find us!” Rubbing her temples, Dree wracked her brain for anything else they could do. There had to be another way! “Hibiki, do you have a cell phone?” 

Hibiki shook her head. “When I was summoned here, I quickly noticed that I didn’t have it on me. Shouldn’t you have one?” 

Dree shook her head. “I was pulled out of my dorm room this morning. I didn’t have a chance to grab it, thanks to you.” 

“Me?” Hibiki seemed taken back by the accusation, “What do you mean ‘thanks to you’?” She frowned, eyes trailing downwards. “I didn’t ask to be put into this mess.”

“Yeah? How do you think I feel? You’re the reason behind this earthquake, you’re the reason we’re being chased by the Immigration Bureau, and you’re the reason we’re going to die!” Dree vented out all of her frustrations onto Hibiki, her words seething with unshed rage. 

“I wish I didn’t have to die next to someone like  _ you. _ ” Hibiki’s words were quiet, but Dree still heard them clearly. 

The two of them sat in silent resentment towards each other as the water level continued to rise. For now, the shaking had finally started to die down, but the rain didn’t stop its heavy downpour. 

Tears threatened to spill out of Dree’s eyes as she replayed Hibiki’s cruel words in the back of her head. She really hadn’t meant to take out all of her anger on Hibiki, but she had panicked and everything slipped out. 

And now, her best girl hated her existence. 

“Hey... Um... Hibiki?” Dree decided to swallow her pride and apologize, however hard it may be. 

“Don’t talk to me, Dree. If I’m going to die, I want to die in peace.” 

Dree shut her mouth, the unspoken apology crumbling instantly. That was it. She was never going to make amends. 

_ ‘What have I done?’  _ The unshed tears blurred Dree’s vision, and as she looked down to avoid Hibiki’s face, teardrops splashed onto the frames of her glasses. 

The water threatened to spill over Hibiki’s knees as she pulled them close to her chest. 

Dree took this time to think about the last six and a half days of her life. The day she arrived at  _ Crevia Will, Musashi Kosugi,  _ was akin to the first day of a new life. She had experienced what happiness was like, but she still had some regrets that lingered at the bottom of her heart. Her fridge had been packed with Coolish ice cream in various flavors. She regretted not eating them sooner before they were all burned to a crisp. And what about the Hibiki nendoroid that melted away into nothing? She wasn’t able to save it. 

_ Nor was she able to save the real one, either.  _

Rainwater now reaching her chest, she finally looked up at Hibiki. It was now or never. 

“I’m sorry.” The words were a bit rushed, but she hoped they still conveyed their meaning properly. 

Sighing softly, Hibiki gave Dree a look of sympathy. 

“I know. I’m sorry too...” Hibiki tucked a strand of wet hair behind her ear. “Are... Are you scared? I sort of know what it’s like to die. I was saved though.” 

Dree remembered the infamous scene from episode one. She too knew how Hibiki had almost perished, however she didn’t mention it. It was too painful to think about it, but now that the real thing was in front of her,  _ dying,  _ she couldn’t help but think back to that morning. 

She remembered mourning over episode one, and how she wasn’t able to save Hibiki from death. But what about now? She was still useless, and because of that fact, she loathed herself immensely. 

_ ‘If only I was stronger. If only I could save us...’  _ Dree tried to push away her thoughts and focus on the sound of Hibiki’s voice. 

“Drowning is one of my biggest fears.” Hibiki continued, “I never thought it would actually happen to me, though.” 

Perhaps Hibiki kept talking so that she would be less afraid. So Dree let her talk aimlessly, and when the water had finally reached her neck, she realized that their time was almost here. 

“Sorry to bore you with all of that useless chatter. I talk when I get nervous...” Hibiki gave Dree a small smile. 

Despite the (somewhat) confident look on Hibiki’s face, Dree could tell that she was still afraid, though. Hibiki’s hands, which were pushing herself afloat against the dumpster walls, were trembling slightly. 

“Don’t worry about it. I don’t mind.” 

“That’s good. I’m glad.” A single tear fell into the endless abyss of water below as the two of them were finally submerged underneath. 


	7. CHATPER 7

“Don’t give up on living yet!” A voice all too familiar brought Dree’s eyes fluttering open. She coughed up a bit of water that was still stuck in her throat before looking up to whoever had saved her. It took a few moments for Dree’s surroundings to become clear, but once they did she got a better look at the person talking to her. 

Blue hair cascaded down to the girl’s hips, and a pair of angry violet eyes stared down at her. “Can you hear me?” 

Dree nodded, and the girl pulled her up to her feet. 

“You’re... Tsubasa, aren’t you?” Looking around, she saw that they were still in the alleyway. The dumpster she had been sitting in with Hibiki was now destroyed. Large pieces of metal were scattered across the ground. “Where’s Hibiki?’ 

“Hibiki was with you?” The girl cursed under her breath. “Great. Now I have to go find  _ her  _ too.” 

Before Dree could ask her, well,  _ anything _ about what had just happened, Tsubasa darted off. In the distance was a constant stream of gunfire. 

“This can’t be good..” If Tsubasa was here, it could only mean that Riley summoned her, right? And given the current situation with the earthquakes, Dree was in doubt that he would do such a thing without a good reason. 

Without a second thought, Dree sprinted out of the alley. She needed to see for herself what was going on. 

The sun was a blend of fiery orange and yellow as it set in the far distance. Strokes of soft pink were absorbed by the clouds, and the blue that the sky usually adorned had already faded for the day. 

A bullet whizzed past Dree’s nose, barely nicking the surface of her skin. Eyes widening in surprise, she fell backwards, landing on the ground. She wiped the blood from her face and peeked around corner. 

To the right stood a massive crowd of immigration officers, all of them wearing either red or yellow crocs. Each one was equipped with a handgun, and... something was on each of their shoulders. Dree squinted her eyes to try and get a better look, but was unable to identify it. 

“Stupid glasses... I need to get a new prescription.” Plucking the pair off of her face, she noticed there was a small crack on the left lense. She wiped the lenses with her shirt before returning them to their home on her face. 

She looked to the left this time, to see... Riley?! He was horribly injured, a small stream of blood running down the side of his head. Bruises adorned his arms, and probably his legs too. (She couldn’t tell because he was wearing jeans) A splotch of crimson was seeping through the fabric over Riley’s left shoulder, and from where Dree was standing, she could tell that he was breathing heavily. One of his hands reached up to put pressure on the wound, even if he couldn’t do much with his bare hand alone. 

“Riley!” Dree’s shoes made a  _ schlorp  _ sound as she ran over to greet her friend, “What happened here?” 

“There she is! Fire!” Dree looked behind Riley to see that another wave of immigration officers were also circled  _ behind  _ him as well. These ones were wearing  _ blue  _ crocs, and standing off to the side was  _ him.  _ Mr. Suica Kado. Head of both the Japanese police force and the Japanese immigration bureau. He also did some side business with Suica, but that wasn’t important at the moment. 

Several officers began shooting from their handguns, however each bullet that was fired was blocked with a powerful wave of magic. 

Before Dree could ask about what exactly was happening, Tsubasa dropped from the top of the nearest building, magic power radiating off of her body. 

“I didn’t see Hibiki anywhere in the area. Are you sure she was with you?” She didn’t look at Dree as she continued to transform magic power into shield waves. “You guys are hecking lucky I made it here on time before you both died.” With that, Tsubasa charged forward at teams red and yellow, relic-weapon in hand. 

As if the officers were nothing more than Noise, she began slicing them down two at a time. 

“Dree. I’m going to summon more girls to help aid me in battle. But it’s too dangerous for you to be here. Go find Michael and hide somewhere safe. Look for Hibiki.” Just from the look on Riley’s face alone, Dree could tell he was exhausted. Was this what the manifestation of mana looked like in real life? Probably. 

“Wait, how did you summon Tsubasa? I don’t see any cards.” Dree’s eyes flickered up at the sound of a gunshot from team blue and she immediately tackled Riley to the ground. 

Riley winced as his shoulder dug into the asphalt, but he still managed to rise back up to his feet. “Dree, go!” With what looked like his last ounce of mana, Riley shoved Dree back with all of his strength. 

She flew backwards, breaking through the glass window of the Lawson’s convenience store and only stopping when she hit the onigiri shelf. 

“Ow... Frick...” Dree stumbled back up to her feet, pushing past the pain and limping back to the broken window. “What...?” A translucent blue barrier kept her from crossing over to the other side. She could still see what was happening as the battle unfolded around her, but she simply couldn’t join. “Riley! Why are you doing this?” She slammed her fists against the barrier, however it didn’t budge. 

“You’re inside a forcefield! You’ll be safe!” Riley turned back to the battle to see three more officers preparing to take fire. “Tsubasa! Look out!” 

Tsubasa was easily able to dodge all three of the bullets from where she was standing, and was also able to take out four more officers in the process, but it wasn’t the same case with Riley. 

The amount of magic he’d used was taking a toll on his body. It was already taking up a lot of magic power to maintain the barrier and to keep Tsubasa sentient at the same time. While he was able to dodge one of the bullets, the other two hit him directly; one on his left arm, and the other on his stomach. 

Riley fell to the ground, this time not having the strength to stand up. Dree winced as the barrier keeping her safe flickered. 

Tsubasa cursed as Riley was shot down, the repercussions directly having an effect on her. She jumped back to the middle ground. 

“Oi! Riley!” Unlike Riley, Tsubasa didn’t have the ability to create force fields of any kind. Rather, her skills mostly focused on taking out enemies with precision and speed, preferably before they could attack. At the sound of five bullets, Tsubasa instinctively jumped back to her safe space on top of the Lawson’s building. She knew that if she didn’t take action quickly, her body would disintegrate into carbon dust, such were the consequences of her summoner dying in battle. 

Luckily, Riley had the last shrivels of life still burning inside of him. Somehow, it was like a small miracle. Most humans would have died by now. 

As a small pool of blood began to spread underneath Riley’s body, the immigration officers didn’t let up. 

“Send out the wasps!” 

Dree gasped.  _ ‘Is that what was on their shoulders? Wasps? I should have known!’  _ She could only watch as the large mass of police wasps loaded their wasp-accessible police guns and shot Riley with thousands of tiny bullets. 

Dree had heard the rumors about police wasps, but she had never believed them. While she knew that wasps were a low calorie snack for many of her favorite characters,  _ police wasps  _ were the center of  _ legends.  _

“Riley! Get out of the way! Those bullets are poisonous!” Dree tried to warn her friend, but she wasn’t fast enough... wait. Or was she? 

As soon as the bullets came within a centimeter of Riley’s circumference, they stopped mid-air, and almost instantaneously fired themselves back at the wasps. 

Dree would have expected the swarm of insects to fall to the ground, but instead they were being pulled to Riley’s body. It was as if they had some type of magnetic attraction, but that didn’t sound right. What was happening? 

Riley absorbed the wasps upon their contact with his skin, and as soon as he did so a large cylindrical wall of light shot up from the ground around his body. 

“Everyone fire! I don’t know what’s happening but I don’t like it!” Suica Kado growled angrily as he pointed at the semi-translucent wall of blue. It matched the color of the barrier that Dree was trapped behind. 

Muscles falling limp and head hanging back, Riley’s “lifeless” body levitated about five feet off of the ground. The light around him was surging with power, deflecting each of the bullets and sending them back towards the officers. 

Riley seemed to be unconscious, that was until his eyes shot open and a white binder materialized in front of him. It flipped through hundreds, maybe even  _ thousands  _ of pages before Riley raised one of his hands and the turning ceased. 

“Carol.” 

The book shined with a bright yellow light as a single card floated out of its assigned pocket and flew out of the barrier. 

From the card, a beautiful girl clad in red armor materialized and lowered herself gracefully to the ground. She pushed her blonde braid back behind her shoulder and glared at the officers surrounding her. 

Dree could tell by the immense magic energy surrounding her that this was a girl not to be fucked with. 

Was this... the same Carol that Riley always talked about? The same one he gave all of his respect to? The same Carol he wanted to be stepped on by? Yes. It had to be the same Carol. 

As the summon finished its sequence, the cylinder of light vanished, and Riley’s body fell back to the ground. 

“Riley! Are you okay?” Dree called out to him, but didn’t receive an answer of any kind. She looked back over at Carol, her eyes pleading with desperation. “Please, Carol! Kill the officers and save my friend!” 

Carol seemed disgusted and ignored her words entirely, however she immediately sprung into battle after hearing Dree’s pleas and started killing officers twice as fast as Tsubasa had been. 

“Hey, are you gonna stand up there forever? The fuck do you think you’re doing standing up there?” Carol easily noticed that Tsubasa had been standing off of the battle grounds. 

“Don’t talk to me like that! I had to retreat!” Tsubasa ran to where the blue crocs were and started on that side. 

With Carol and Tsubasa fighting on either side of the army, they were able to slaughter almost 10,000 officers total within the next two hours. 

“Looks like you leave me no choice.” Suica Kado finally stepped forward, plucking the hat off of his head and pressing the red button that sat idle inside of it. 

Stepping over the sea of dead officers, Carol and Tsubasa charged towards Suica Kado, who teleported behind the two girls as soon as they striked. 

“Nice try. You aren’t going to win against me. So instead, you’ll fight  _ him. _ ” Placing his hat back on his head, he pointed over across the street at where a single figure was illuminated in the moonlight. “Say hello, Michael Berry.” 

“Michael?” Dree tried pushing her way through the force field again with no use, “Michael! We were looking for you!” 

Michael didn’t step forward. In fact, he didn’t step anywhere at all. His feet were together, and they levitated about a foot off of the ground. Without any indication of motion at all, his body ominously floated forward. 

He stopped in front of the barrier that Dree was stuck behind. 

“Michael!” Dree was initially filled with relief, however it soon melted into concern. “Michael, what’s wrong with you? Why are you moving like that?” She took a closer look at him. As long as she was stuck behind that force field, she would be safe. “Your eyes look more dead inside than they usually do.” 

Once again, Michael was silent. He continued to levitate forward until he reached Officer Suica Kado. 

“Good Michael. Have a wasp.” Plucking the police wasp that was sitting on his shoulder, he tossed it at Michael. 

Michael’s neck extended forward, and his teeth clomped over the wasp before he ate it in one bite. It wasn’t until he swallowed the meal that his neck reverted back to normal size. 

“Thanks. I hate it.” he said, his voice completely monotonous. 

“Michael! Don’t listen to him!” Dree tried to call out to him, but he didn’t respond. 

Suica Kado pulled a gun from his belt holster and shot the force field as a warning. 

“You, be quiet! As soon as these girls fail, your barrier of protection will fall. And then I will kill you myself, with my own two hands!” Suica Kado returned his weapon and smirked at Michael. “If you win, I’ll give you another wasp.” 

Licking his lips, Michael reached out the palm of his hand and shot a magical ball of energy at Carol and Tsubasa. 

The two girls were easily able to dodge, however the frequency of the “bullet”-like orbs began increasing in speed as Michael shot them out one after the other. 

“Wasps. Wasps. Wasps.” Michael repeated the word each time he shot at them. “Wasps wasps waspspspspspspspspspspspsps.” Soon enough, the word became diluted and morphed into nothing more than a shell of the word it once was. 

“Wait! Tsubasa, Carol! Don’t fight him! He’s on our side!” Once again, Dree was completely ignored as the two girls continued fighting in the heat of battle. “Guys, listen to me!”   
“Dree... Is... Right...” 

Tsubasa and Carol spun around at the sound of the familiar voice to see... Hibiki?! She limped forward slowly, her left hand holding her other arm. “Y-You need to press the button... In the... hat...” Hibiki coughed, a heavy amount of blood pushing past her lips and dripping down her chin. 

“Hibiki! Where did you go? What happened?” Dree was trying more than ever now to break through the field of light that separated her from her waifu. “Hibiki, how did you get so hurt?” 

Hibiki tried to give Dree a reassuring smile, however she could only hold it for a few seconds before her face went limp again. 

“Press... the button... in his hat...” 

Suica Kado pulled out his gun and shot Hibiki. And she let it happen. She knew her death was inevitable. And, had she even wanted to dodge, it would have been impossible.  _ She knew getting back home to Miku was nothing more than a facade, anyways.  _

“Hibiki! Hibiki!” 

Hibiki fell to her knees, but she pressed her hand up against the barrier. Dree put her hand against the other side. It was cold. 

“Dree... I’m sorry about our... fight... I didn’t mean... what I said...” 

Dree shook her head. “That doesn’t matter right now! Hibiki, don’t die, please! We’ll find a way for you to get home!” 

Hearing Dree’s words, Suica shot at Hibiki five more times until her eyes were drained of their bright honey color. She fell limp to the ground, and it looked almost as if the blood was draining out of her body. 

Carol didn’t have much of a reaction to the death, considering she didn’t like Hibiki that much, anyways. But Tsubasa was livid. Dree had initially thought that Tsubasa hated Hibiki, but... That was wrong. 

_ ‘The only living memory that Tsubasa had of Kanade was Hibiki, and now... They’re both gone.’  _ Dree thought, her heart not only aching for Tsubasa but for herself.  _ ‘I wasn’t able to do anything... again.’  _

Tsubasa let out a battle cry as she activated her  _ One Thousand Tears  _ attack. Exactly one thousand swords rained down from the sky, all of them targeted at Michael and Suica Kado. Meanwhile, Carol decided to attack with her strings, holding Suica Kado and Michael in place as the rain of swords impaled them various times in different parts of their body. 

“Y-You fool...” Suica Kado spit out a tooth, “You just activated... the beast...” Those were his final words as he died. 

“The beast?” Tsubasa looked over at Dree to see if she had made sense of what he said. Dree shook her head. 

“I don’t know. But we have to get out of here.” She looked over at Michael, who’s body convulsed on the dirty road. “I realized what was wrong with him. He was injected with the serum!” 

“Serum?” Tsubasa’s swords dematerialized into the air, and she pressed her foot down on Michael’s chest to keep him from getting back up. “I’m not following.” 

“I’ve done my homework about Japanese immigration. There are rumors about a wasp serum. It’s apparently made of wasps, but the liquid comes together to form some type of microchip. The chip gave Suica Kado full control over Michael’s body, but we should be able to take it out now.” 

Tsubasa nodded, despite the fact that Dree’s explanation literally made no sense. 

“Okay.” Grabbing a pocket knife that was conveniently placed in Suica Kado’s pocket, Tsubasa was able to make a slight incision on Michael’s neck and pull out a small, green square. She crushed it under her foot. “Well that’s done.” She sighed, “Are we finished here? I have to... report what happened to headquarters...” 

“Well in order to do that, we need to wake up Riley and have him unsummon you guys.” Dree looked down at Hibiki, feeling guilt that she wasn’t able to send her back home with the others. 

Before Tsubasa could answer, the ground began to rumble with a new type of strength that Dree had never experienced before. 

“Look over there!” Tsubasa pointed to the dead officers, whose bodies were slowly... being pulled together? Their lifeless corpses seemed to melt into one another, forming what looked like a giant ball of mangled flesh. 

Dree watched on in horror as a pair of arms and legs forcibly stretched out of the flesh ball. Each limb was created by a countless number of officers pressed together. It was almost as if the skin was made out of goop. 

The large creature took a single step forward, however even with that single step alone, everyone could hear the sound of a thousand bones cracking. 

Step. Crack. Step. Crack. 

The faceless fusion of bodies produced a strange frog-like noise, revealing that somewhere on its disgusting body, it had a mouth. 

“RRRRRReeeeesssssiiiiiddddeeeennnnccceeeee cccccaaaaarrrrrddddssssss...” It groaned, the pain and suffering of the officers could clearly be seen on each of the officers that were morphed together. 

Carol ran over to Riley and kicked him square in the head. 

“This is no time to be sleeping!”   
“C-Carol...?” Riley muttered softly, “Is... Is that you?” His vision blurred slightly as he tried to focus in on the blonde sorceress. The monster immediately screeched at the sound of Riley’s voice. 

“RRReeeeEEEESIDEEEENCE CAAAAARDS.”

“You know what? You’re useless. Nevermind.” she huffed, and tried to capture the beast with her string magic. 

Tsubasa blinked out of her gaze and started attacking as well, however every slash went directly through the monster. 

“Is this thing made out of slime?” Carol’s strings had no effect on the creature and simply went right through it. 

Dree could only watch as the girls continued to attack and attack again, with no success. She wished she was able to help, but there was simply nothing she could do but watch. 

The monster spit out a mangled cluster of dead bodies at a horrific speed, hitting both Carol and Tsubasa  _ dead _ on. The two of them didn’t even have enough time to react as bodies kept being shot at them. And when the firing  _ did  _ let up, they couldn’t even fight back before thousands upon thousands of wasps were unleashed from the beast. 

The wasps were angry. And they sought revenge. They stung both Tsubasa and Carol several times. They shot them with their poison bullet guns. They took out all of their pent up fury on the poor victims. 

“W-We have to do it! We have to sing! This poison is lethal!” Tsubasa cried out as the poison reached her bloodstream. She could feel her chest tightening, and all of her limbs wanted to fall limp. She couldn’t give up so easily, though!  
Carol was usually one to fight back against what was being told to her, however this time she knew that Tsubasa was right. There was no way they could fight back against that many wasps. 

“We can... We can alter the song... We’ll give him all of our energy...” Carol winced as she clasped hands with Tsubasa. 

“Forbidden bop.” They said in unison, the lyrics to the swan song flying off of their lips with ease. They had memorized it long ago, however they didn’t think they would ever have to use it. 

The lyrics were slightly different than the original, and so instead of the song using their life force to defeat the enemy, they simply gave Riley what little life they had left. Their magical energy was pumped into Riley’s body, giving the boy strength. And life. 

Tsubasa and Carol knew it wasn’t much, but it wouldn’t have been enough to defeat the immigration officer...  _ thing  _ anyways. This was the best plan of action. 

As the two girls painfully faded into carbon dust, the last thing they saw was Riley’s eyes opening. 

_ ‘Yes... He’s safe...’  _


	8. CHATPER 8

Riley rose from his dark slumber-like state, the vengeance that Carol and Tsubasa left behind seething in his green-tinted eyes. 

“I will avenge you with my last bit of strength.” Raising his hand up into the air above him, a long wooden staff materialized into his grip. At the top of the thick, twisted branch, a purple orb glowed with power, though Riley knew it couldn’t have been much. 

He gripped the wood firmly as he pointed it at the immigration monster.

“You heathen, seek my revenge and pay for your sins against humanity.” A long, violet beam burst from the top of the sphere, sending a laser straight through the inhumane creature. 

It growled loudly as the ground behind it suffered the immediate repercussions of the attack, splitting open the road and tearing through a cluster of buildings that had survived the previous tremors. Its stomach bulged before combusting, pieces of flesh and blood raining down amongst the drops that were heavily pouring around them. 

The color was draining from Riley’s skin, and the eyes that had once shined with pure enthusiasm were now dull and lifeless. Blood from the unknown creature dripped over his face as he looked up at the parting clouds. 

It looked like the rain was starting to vanish, and as the clouds blew by with the wind, Riley could see a bright, white light in the sky.  _ The moon.  _

The staff dropped to the ground, disintegrating into a bunch of ones and zeros as soon as it made impact with the pavement. 

The barrier that was separating Dree from the battlefield also vanished, giving her full access to the scene. 

“Riley! Are you okay? Speak to me!” Stepping through the broken glass window of the Lawson’s building, Dree made haste over to where Riley was standing idle. “You don’t look so good, c’mon let’s go get you some help!” As Dree reached out to touch Riley’s hand, the mere notion sent him collapsing to the ground. He landed on his back, hardly wincing as he made impact. 

Falling to her knees, Dree followed suit. There was nothing more she could do but watch as her friend grew more and more pale. 

“Did you know when you sing lots and lots, you get really hungry? And when you get hungry, you can’t think of good ideas?” Riley’s voice cracked midway, surging Dree’s first wave of tears. They dripped down her chin, landing on Riley’s face. “I can’t see you. It’s so... dark...” 

Dree grabbed Riley’s hand, “I’m right here. I’m not going to leave your side. Please, tell me you’ll do the same.” 

“I don’t think... that’s possible anymore. I did what I had to in order to save you and Michael. And that’s honestly good enough for me.” Squeezing a weak hand around Dree’s abled one, he tried to reassure her that he was confident in his actions, however it didn’t do much to calm her down. 

“Don’t say that, we can still save you!” On the inside, Dree knew it was a lost cause. Riley’s injuries were far beyond repair, and even if she had the power to summon a girl who could heal, her mana levels wouldn’t be strong enough to keep sentient for very long. “I just wanted to be your friend and watch all of Symphogear with you...” 

“Hey...” Said Riley, giving her a weak smile, “You can still finish the rest of season two with Michael. You can continue my cult, and do whatever... weird stuff you guys always get into without me...” Coughing, a bit of blood leaked down his chin. 

“I can’t center the cult around you if you’re dead! Please, don't go... I’ve lost Hibiki, and now I have to lose you, too?” With her free hand, Dree palmed at the tears overflowing from her eyes, hoping to take control of their endless stream. Their rise, however, was inevitable, so she let them fall. 

“Your voice... It’s getting quieter...” Riley’s skin was losing its warmth, and from what Dree could tell, she was about to lose her best friend for all of eternity. “Hey, Dree?” 

“Yes? What is it?” Dree’s voice trembled as she feared the words that were going to come out of Riley’s mouth. In pure contrast to the lack of rhythm in Riley’s chest, Dree’s heart pounded with apprehension. 

“You’ve... got a friend... in me...” The weight of Riley’s hand doubled as it fell completely limp, slipping out of Dree’s hold. 

“Riley? Riley?” Dree tried to shake him back awake, knowing in the back of her mind that he was gone forever. “Riley!” she sobbed, willing her friend to come back to life with no avail. Life gives, and death takes; A merciless cycle that has dominated the Earth for billions of years without fail. 

Above her, the full moon shined bright in the night sky, her tears reflecting the white light it cast upon Riley’s corpse. Memories played through her mind like a cinematic tape, recalling the bittersweet moments that would never, ever happen again. 

_ ‘Why do things have to be this way? I just wanted to have a normal college life and hang out with my friends... Sure, I was initially excited about the prospect of Hibiki being summoned, but... It wasn’t worth it in the end. Not at the cost that I had to pay.’  _ Dree thought as she stared down at the shell of what once was Riley Perkins. 

Death was lurking all around her. In the faces of the immigration officers that were still unmoved from their resting place, in the shreds of skin that rained down from the sky, and now, in her best friend as well. 

Dree knew that the process of losing life was natural, and that everyone would have to experience it at some point. She just wished it didn’t have to be  _ now.  _

“Cry not, young girl. Your tears only subtract from your natural beauty.” A young man appeared in the distance, unfazed by the ocean of gore he had waded into. Their waters seemed to encaptivate him, almost. He accepted the invitation and leaned down to graze his fingers over the face of the nearest corpse. 

“Who are you?” Dree stood up, her caution heightening. She glared at him, her skepticism hidden behind her tear-struck eyes. 

Straightening his posture, the man adjusted the black glasses sitting on his nose. 

“You’re crying over a mere human life. Why, you should be celebrating. Your other friend made it through this ordeal with his life.” He said. 

“Humans are not so easily replaced. What would you know about it?” The lack of empathy in this man was unsettling, and Dree was almost tempted to flee. However, Riley and the Symphogear girls had stood their ground. It would be shameful if she tried to escape whatever this man had in store for her. 

Dree approached the man, her courage unwavering. 

“Oh, how interesting.” The man’s smirk widened as he leaned down to examine Dree’s face closer. “Your eyes have the sparkle of life laced inside of them.” He brushed over her eyes with his thumb, wiping away her tears. “People are all the same. They live, they die, they do the same things. No need to cry, little one. Your existence is just as meaningless as the rest of humanity.” With his other hand, he intertwined his fingers through a loose strand of Dree’s hair. 

“You’re wrong.” Dree pulled away from his advances, “Humans are all unique. We all eat and sleep, but each of us lives out our lives differently. Each of us leaves a different legacy behind.” 

The man grabbed at his brown hair with enthusiasm, laughter bubbling up from the back of his throat. 

He cackled, “Oh, really? In the grand spectrum of life itself, humans are nothing more than a spec. You cannot convince me that your ambitions have worth.” 

“It doesn’t matter if you believe me or not. I’ll be one who understands the truth. Besides, you’re human, aren’t you? Why would you go through such lengths to distance yourself from your own species?” 

Nothing in particular seemed interesting about this man’s appearance. He adorned a simple black business suit with a black tie. He had your everyday cinnamon brown hair, with a pair of brown eyes to match. His glasses seemed to be in mint condition, unlike the cracked frames that Dree wore upon her face. 

Who did this man think he was? 

“Who are you, exactly?” Dree inquired. 

“My name, if you must know, is Shinji Ogawa. It’s useless information to you, anyways. One day you’ll die and all of your ‘precious’ memories will perish along with you.” Once again he stepped forward towards Dree, his heels pressing into a dead body along the way. 

“Ogawa? How is it possible that you’re here? Were you summoned?” 

The vacuous question warranted a second wave of hilarity from Ogawa’s gut.   
“Are you seriously that dense?” He took the next few moments to regain his composure, wiping a stray tear from the corner of his eye, “You’re a girl, so you’re forgiven for that undeniably stupid question. No, I was not summoned. I came here of my own volition. My mana is stable enough to keep me animated in both parallel universes.” He looked down, disgusted by the corpse resting under his foot, and kicked it away without a second thought. A bit of blood stained the tip of his shoe, to which he cursed under his breath. 

“Looks like I’ll get her to clean this off later...” 

“What was that?”

“None of your concern.” Ogawa cleared his throat, “A mere mortal should keep themselves in line.” 

“Mortal? Are you implying that you hold a constant state of immortality? But you’re just a side character! Give your powers to Riley instead! Bring him back to life!” 

With a speed that Dree didn’t know was possible, Ogawa clamped his hand around her neck, lifting her into the air. He pulled her close to him so that she could see the hatred seething in his gaze. It only lasted for a second though, before he dropped her back to the ground. 

“I’m afraid life doesn’t work that way. Once someone receives the bitter kiss of death, it is impossible to restore their bodies with the mana of life. And even if I could give someone the gift of immortality, it wouldn’t be that boy. You need to reflect upon what your precious  _ life  _ truly means to you, you hypocrite.” 

“I don’t know what you mean. I just want my friend back.” Dree looked down at the cracks underneath her feet. How deep did their canyons reach? 

“If life is so precious to you, what sense would it make if you could simply restore it like  _ that. _ ” Ogawa snapped his fingers at the last word, “Humans know nothing but greed. I regret the day I took the form of one... But then again, maybe contradictions are embedded within human nature. One wishes for their friends to live forever, but if we all lived eternal lives, wouldn’t it make the prospect of true  _ living  _ meaningless?” 

Dree pondered the theory. What made her  _ human,  _ anyways? Was it her ability to choose her path in life? Was it her connection with others? If humans did live forever, then surely nobody would live life to the fullest, right? 

With an infinite stretch of time to walk a never ending path, one would surely not take the time to appreciate the specimens surrounding them. Or was the opposite? With the gift of an inexhaustible lifetime, one could learn every language, every culture, they could truly appreciate all of the gifts that the earth bestowed down to them. 

What was the right answer? Did life even have right answers? 

“What’s the matter, young girl? You’ve grown silent. Do you realize now that I am in the right?” He waited patiently for her response. 

“I can’t wrap my head around it.” 

“And that is exactly what sets you and I apart from each other. A god to a mortal.” 

A cool breeze blew between them, making a shiver run down the back of Dree’s spine. Nearby, a cluster of crickets chirped their nightly calls. Dree couldn’t help but wonder why they were late to the occasion, or perhaps her mind had blocked out the sound until now. The moon seemed to grow more distant by the minute, but Dree was convinced it had to be her imagination. 

Ogawa snapped his fingers again, and the world around them started to melt. As if the distant horizon was nothing more than an illusion, it dripped down an invisible wall, leaving a galaxy dusted void in its place. Even the very ground underneath Dree’s feet was not exempt, and before she knew it, it had disappeared along with everything else around her. 

“What’s happening? What are you doing?” Dree looked around for anything she had once deemed to be familiar, however she didn’t recognize any earthly features about the place they were in. 

Walking across nothing, Ogawa stopped in front of where Dree stood and snapped his fingers a third time. 

They were inside a white cube. One ceiling, one floor, and four walls. 

“This setting will be a bit less distracting.” Ogawa said, “Wouldn’t you agree?” 

A bead of sweat dripped aimlessly down the side of Dree’s face. 

“Where are we?” 

“Nowhere and everywhere. We are moving in an infinite direction, though our precise destination is of my jurisdiction. Everything you consider as familiar is within my power to create. Do you understand now, young girl? The epitome of knowledge was a facade that I crafted as an illusion. Nothing you know actually exists, rather it is merely a tool to serve as entertainment.” 

Dree was hit with a sudden epiphany as certain actions of the past finally made themselves clear. 

 

_ The dumpster lid slammed back shut.  _

_ “This one’s worse than the first one!” Dree shouted. Once again, it seemed as though the gods above had heard her words.  _

_ “Bet.” They said, and just like that, a heavy rainstorm began brewing overhead.  _

_ Water began dripping into the dumpster, making Hibiki squeal in disgust.  _

_ “Oh no! I don’t want to get all wet!” _

 

_ - _

 

_ As if the gods of the universe had heard Dree’s exact words, the ground below their feet began to shake violently. Immediately losing her grip on the circle handle above her head, Dree was the first one to go crashing to the floor.  _

 

-

 

There really was a god watching from above, using her like a tool to satisfy his own desires. And where did that put her on the spectrum of things? 

Did she really exist? 

“Your lives are all meaningless. I can create or destroy anything I please, and with the power of a god comes heavy responsibility. But does it really matter with a lack of repercussion? There is no one above me to quell my desires for destruction. I watched the pitiful human world for thousands of meaningless years. I watched as millions perished, and as millions of mortals immediately replaced them. Humans gave themselves structure. I merely provided the outlet.” 

“But now that you’ve destroyed said ‘outlet,’ what will you do now?” Part of Dree’s mind feared for the future that lied ahead. There was no way that she would be allowed to live with this otherworldly information, right? But then again, after what she had just heard, did her life really have a meaning after all? Probably not... 

“That is none of your concern. For all I care, you can end up as another one of my mindbroken slaves.” With yet another snap of his fingers, four familiar faces materialized out of thin air and fell in an unsightly pile on top of each other. 

They seemed to be nothing more than unconscious shells, until they all rose to their feet and stood in a horizontal line. 

“Miku, come here. Yumi, you too. Shiori and Kuriyo, I could really care less about you two. Maybe when I summon you again, consider what I’m looking for and manifest yourselves into that desire. I am ashamed of you.” He snapped, and both Shiori and Kuriyo twisted into a painful oblivion, their bodies folding into a black pocket that vanished as soon as its deed was done. 

Miku and Yumi stepped forward, their eyes showing no signs of hesitation. 

“These are my two favorite girls. I like you, young one. You could join them. No, actually, you will join them. Tell me your name.” As Ogawa spoke, he ran either hand mindlessly through Miku and Yumi’s hair. 

Something strange gleamed in Ogawa’s eyes, and as Dree glanced at it for a split second, her mouth opened and she spoke without any free will. 

“My name is Dree. I would be ecstatic to follow you as a servant of holiness.” 


End file.
